In 1986 two creators,
writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, stood the comics industry on
its ear with their 1986 masterpiece. Comics will never be the same.

Alan
Moore's Post Super Hero Boom

As
far as monetary value is concerned, Alan Moore's The Watchmen, a
12 issue maxi-series launched in 1986, is hardly worth much more than its
cover price as a back issue. After all, 1986 isn't that long ago, issues
can be easily had, and the Eisner Award winning series has been collected
in a trade paperback that retails for $19.95.

Nonetheless, for the serious comic book
collector who views his or her collection as more than simply an investment,
The
Watchman is a must-have. The series that told of an imaginary world
where aging super heroes find their old friends being murdered is generally
regarded as one of the best comics series ever published. As story telling,
it is one of the most gripping yarns to have come out of the super hero
genre in decades, and the visual story telling, as rendered by the talented
Dave
(Give Me Liberty, Dr. Who) Gibbons, is a cinematic treat.

Alan Moore is too prolific, too important,
a comics creator for just one feature and has the unique distinction in
a field dominated by artists to achieve super stardom as a writer. Born
in 1953 in Northampton, England, Moore dropped out of school at the age
of 17, starting his writing career as rock n' roll scribe for a magazine
called Sounds. After a stint as a cartoonist for his strip Maxwell
the Magic Cat, Moore turned to comics writing for the comics magazines
2000
AD and Warriors. Two of his stories were particularly noteworthy;
"The Reversible Man" in 2000 AD # 308 (1983) and a science fiction
comedy two issues later, "Chronocops," which was deliberately drawn in
the style of MAD's Will Elder by Dave Gibbons.

His first big critical notice came with
V
for Vendetta. Illustrated by David Lloyd, the story told of the
near future United kingdom, devastated by war and ruled by a fascist government
(the dystopian epic was later reprinted and completed for DC Comics, 1988-1989).
Other work for Warrior included Marvel Man, which was
later reprinted and continued as Miracle Man by Eclipse Comics beginning
in 1985.

Marvel Man, by the way, is the reason
why More has sworn never to work for Marvel Comics: the character
first saw print in Great Britain in 1954, when it was copyrighted. Marvel
Comics debuted in 1961. When More sought to revive the character, Marvel
threatened to sue. "The logic behind that," stated More in a Comics
Journalinterview, "was not that they were right, but that they
were big enough. It meant that they could keep us in court forever with
their lawyers whether they were right or wrong.I couldn't do business with
people like that."

V for Vendetta created enough of
a splash to ensure that Moore would land an assignment writing
Swamp
Thing.Moore started his 44 issue run with #21, reinventing the
sentient veggie so that he became more than the comic cliché of
a scientist mutated into a monster, but more of an earth elemental, giving
the series an ecological twist. As DC editor Karen Berger would say of
the series, "I think Alan was the first writer in mainstream comics
who was writing for adults."

His Swamp Thing brought great acclaim,
but 1986 would be the year that Moore would change the face of comics.
Starting in September, and set in an alternate universe (where would comics
be without them?), Watchmen opened with the murder of an aging,
less than idealistic superhero, the Comedian. In the first issue we meet
various other aging super heroes, all in forced retirement due to laws
passed by Congress after a nationwide police strike. Of course, this being
comics, Moore's middle-aged protagonists don't stay in retirement for long;
the opening murder sets the stage for the discovery of a plot to unleash
a world-wide holocaust through genetic manipulation and teleportation.

The characters in Watchmen, the
Comedian, Rorshach [shown below], Doctor Manhattan, Night Owl, the Silk
Spectre, Ozymandias, were originally going to be characters from the Charleton
Comics universe (Captain
Atom, Blue
Beetle, et cetera), but were saved from the chopping block when the
scripting began.

Time plays a very important factor in this
story, which unfolds minute by minute in a series of scene and character
changes and flashbacks. The entirety of the twelve issue series spans twelve
minutes, which is symbolized by a Happy Face version of the Bulletin of
Atomic Scientists' "doomsday" clock on the first and last issues. Covers
in the series, close-ups of inanimate objects (actionless comic book covers!)
served as the first panel, which then segued into the story.

Moore chose well when he selected Dave
Gibbons as the artist for his series. A realistic artist with a tight clean
line, Gibbons is obviously influenced by Harvey
Kurtzman, John Severin, and Bill Elder, some of the foundations of
his style, which no way detracts from his own originality, and illustrates
Moore's story with exquisite use of perspective and framing. "We were
on the same wavelength," Gibbons has said. "We liked the same kind
of comics; we had the same meticulous approach. Everything has to mean
something."

With their places in comics' hall of fame
secure, both creators continue on with the same attention to high quality
in their comic book projects. Gibbons did a remarkable job on Frank
Miller's various Martha Washington series for Dark Horse; comics
well worth collecting. Moore continues to reinforce his reputation with
award-winning projects likeFrom
Hell, his story of Jack the Ripper, illustrated by Eddie Campbell.
Moore continued to reinvent the superhero with titles like Top Ten, Tom
Strong, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tomorrow Stories, and
Promethea.
Between Alan Moore and Warren
Ellis (The Authority, Planetary) my comic book budget is pretty
well sewn up!